[Palliative care in primary care: the opinion of professionals]

Abstract

Objectives: To find the views and attitudes of primary care professionals to the setting-up of a palliative treatments programme.

Design: A qualitative research study with discussion groups.

Setting: Primary care.

Participants: 60 primary care professionals, 30 doctors and 30 nurses, selected at random and placed in 6 discussion groups.

Measurements and main results: Collection and analysis of the views expressed in the discussion groups. The professionals saw as problems: poor communication between levels of care, inadequate organisation and communication within the primary care teams and difficulties in obtaining opiates at pharmacy offices. Lack of training was not seen as a problem. The care organisation models suggested varied from those based on the first care level to those exclusively dependent on specialist units.

Conclusions: The proper development of palliative treatment is subject to various problems identified by the professionals. These have to be tackled before the programmes are set up.